埃维特网络 (AVNW) 2026财年第四季度业绩电话会：MDU引领2027财年增长

Aviat Networks（纳斯达克股票代码：AVNW）在2026财年收官之际实现了更高的季度营收和创纪录的年末未完工订单（储备订单），但零部件短缺和通货膨胀拖累了毛利率。管理层预计，在多居住单元（MDU）业务机遇、专网业务以及国际市场需求改善的支撑下，2027财年的增长将有所加速。

核心要点

• 2026财年第四季度营收同比增长4.8%至1.209亿美元。全年营收增长1.2%至4.397亿美元，标志着Aviat连续第六年实现增长。
• 年末未完工订单达到3.67亿美元，较2025财年增长14%。管理层表示，最近的新增订单以及供应链产能提升的时机，将支撑2027财年呈现后半财年比重更高的走势。
• Aviat指引2027财年营收为4.55亿美元至4.70亿美元，调整后EBITDA为5000万美元至5500万美元。
• 公司从现有客户处获得了一笔2500万至3000万美元的MDU订单，预计将在2027财年确认所有相关营收，主要增量将从第二季度开始。
• 第四财季Non-GAAP毛利率从34.7%降至30.9%，主要反映了零部件短缺和价格通胀的影响。管理层计划对客户提价，以帮助抵消成本上升。
• 欧洲、中东和非洲（EMEA）地区该季度营收增长53%，2026财年增长33%，这在一定程度上得益于涉及国防和能源客户的专网订单突破。

主要财务业绩

2026财年全年营收为4.397亿美元，而2025财年为4.346亿美元。调整后EBITDA总计3670万美元。GAAP营业利润增加870万美元至1920万美元，而Non-GAAP营业利润增长5.2%至3060万美元。

截至财年末，现金及可交易证券总额为7280万美元，债务为9700万美元，净债务为2420万美元。经营性现金流为1360万美元。Aviat还以平均每股16.55美元的价格斥资220万美元回购了约13.1万股股票。

业务与经营表现

MDU部署是2027财年的核心增长驱动力。Aviat表示，其参与的市场数量即将达到25个，高于早期阶段的1个、7个以及大约11至13个。管理层认为公司在客户的供应商排名中有所提升，目前已成为首选供应商，尽管公司预计不会成为唯一供应商。

管理层估计，MDU年度总市场机遇可达约1亿美元。实际实现的收益取决于该一级（Tier 1）客户的用户增长情况以及Aviat相对于竞争对手的市场份额。追加订单是有可能的，但未包含在预期之内。

专网仍是另一个核心增长领域。公共安全需求正受到无人机和执法记录仪等高带宽应用支撑。在公用事业领域，Aviat将其微波无线电、Aprisa SCADA无线电、LTE/5G路由器、网络管理软件和保障产品定位为综合连接组合。

Aviat在美国、欧洲和拉丁美洲收到了首批LTE路由器订单。管理层表示，该机遇规模目前仍相对较小，且政府采购周期较长，但客户参与度相当高。

在国际市场方面，EMEA实现了强劲增长，而亚太地区保持稳定。管理层预计整体国际业务将在2027财年恢复增长。上一季度延迟的绝大部分中东营收已在第四财季收回，管理层称该客户群体的供需已处于稳定状态。

Aviat还将近地轨道（LEO）卫星连接视为其微波和蜂窝路由器产品组合的补充。客户正在进行涉及卫星冗余和自动故障转移的测试，但管理层确认，2027财年指引中未包含任何与LEO相关的营收。

管理层指引

管理层预计第一季度将是该财年营收最低的时期。第二季度和第四季度预计将是高峰期，而第三季度应高于第一季度。下半年的营收预计也将高于上半年，管理层指出，上半年约占45%、下半年约占55%的比例可能是合理的。

MDU产能提速预计主要在第二季度，不过部分营收可能会在截至9月的季度（第一财季）予以确认。公司预计BEAD（宽带平等、接入和部署计划）将在截至12月的季度开始产生首次实质性营收贡献，但指引中仅纳入了保守且微量的预测。

管理层提出了推动营收走向指引区间顶部的四个潜在驱动因素：更强劲的MDU用户增长与份额提升、BEAD提速超预期、专网销售额增加，以及获得更多一级（Tier 1）客户订单。

风险与关注事项

零部件短缺和成本通胀仍是近期毛利率面临的主要压力。Aviat正专注于保障存储器、印制电路板、电容器和FPGA的供应。管理层表示，提价举措和供应链配给策略应从第二季度开始提供更大的缓解作用。

管理层预计第二财季至第四财季毛利率将面临向上改善的动力，但将下半年的毛利率达到35%左右描述为追求目标（理想状态）。MDU业务具有中等水平的产品利润率特征，限制了规模扩大带来的利润率提升空间。

MDU的业务机会取决于客户站点的就绪情况、新增用户数以及Aviat的竞争份额。尽管客户询价积极，但BEAD的时机仍存在不确定性。此外，将竞争对手（正在退出该业务）的微波网络进行转换可能需要6至18个月的时间。

分析师问答环节亮点

• MDU时间节点：预计站点就绪工作和零部件订购将在截至9月的季度内推进，随后在截至12月的季度实现更大幅度的部署提速。
• 竞争机遇：在一家欧洲竞争对手于2025年11月宣布退出后，Aviat已建立起项目管线。管理层认为在经历了漫长的网络过渡流程后，截至3月和6月的季度具有更大的转化潜力。
• BEAD项目：该机遇已从理论规划推进至活跃的客户报价阶段。管理层继续将其视为一项为期三年的营收驱动力。
• 营收结构：Aviat的整体业务中，专网占比约45%，服务提供商或移动网络运营商占比约55%。管理层表示，美国的业务结构更偏向于专网。
• 资产负债表内部控制：Aviat报告称，此前认定的全部五项重大缺陷均已得到充分整改。

业绩电话会议完整文字记录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Welcome to Aviat Networks' Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Conference Call.[Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Andrew Fredrickson, Vice President, Corporate Finance. You may begin.

Andrew Fredrickson

Thank you, and welcome to Aviat Networks' Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results Conference Call and Webcast. You can find our press release and updated investor presentation in the IR section of our website at www.aviatnetworks.com, along with a replay of today's call. With me today are Pete Smith, Aviat's President and CEO, who will begin with opening remarks on the company's fiscal quarter, followed by Andy Schmidt, CFO, to review financial results for the quarter. Pete will then provide closing remarks on Aviat's strategy and outlook.

As a reminder, during today's call and webcast, management may make forward-looking statements regarding Aviat's business, including, but not limited to, statements relating to fiscal guidance, financial projections, business drivers, new products and expansions, the economic activity in different regions. These and other forward-looking statements reflect the company's opinions only as of the date of this call and webcast and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. Additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements expressed or implied on this call can be found in our most recent filings with the SEC.

The company undertakes no obligation to revise or make public any revision of these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Additionally, during today's call and webcast, management will reference both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our press release, which is available in the IR section of our website at www.aviatnetworks.com and financial tables therein, which include a GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation and other supplemental financial information. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Aviat's President and CEO, Pete Smith. Pete?

Peter Smith

Thanks, Andrew. Let's review the highlights from the fourth quarter. Quarterly revenues of $121 million, up 4.8% versus the year ago period. Adjusted EBITDA of $11.9 million, non-GAAP EPS of $0.64, year-end backlog of $367 million, up 14% versus the end of fiscal year 2025. This marks a strong end to Aviat's fiscal 2026. Full year revenue was $440 million, up 1.2% versus the prior fiscal year. This represents our sixth consecutive year of revenue growth. Aviat is the only microwave company to achieve this growth during the last 6 years.

I would also like to note that this was the first time in over a decade that Aviat has had all 4 quarters in the fiscal year with at least $100 million in revenue. This is a tremendous achievement, and I would like to thank all of our customers, supplier partners and employees in making this possible. Since FY '23, we have been expanding outside of our core microwave business with a focus on mission-critical access. In FY '26, sales of non-microwave, i.e., mission-critical access products grew significantly versus FY '25 and is the result of Aviat's strategic decisions and execution in years prior, allowing us to diversify our business and gain access to larger, faster-growing segments. We are glad to see this strategy coming to fruition.

Now I'd like to talk more about recent developments in our end markets. In the U.S., strong quarterly sales and bookings set the stage for an exciting year ahead. We see several growth vectors aligning for Aviat. First, we believe our multi-dwelling unit MDU opportunity will deliver meaningful revenues to Aviat this year. We announced an order received from an existing customer in the range of $25 million to $30 million. We expect all of this revenue in fiscal 2027. The Aviat team continues to work to win additional markets and adjacent opportunities to increase our capture rate in fiscal 2027 and beyond.

Secondly, we see private networks continuing to be a core foundation for Aviat's growth. In state and local public safety networks, Aviat remains the leader and continues to pursue opportunities for more share of demand. According to industry research, city and state government budgets are expected to grow 6.4% and 4.2%, respectively. Video-intensive applications like drones and body cameras as well as other data-intensive tools drive increased bandwidth demand within private networks, which necessitates more or upgraded microwave links.

As highlighted in our last earnings call, utility private networks are poised for growth. Power infrastructure and grid connectivity are emerging as key bottlenecks to AI infrastructure deployment. This build-out requires secure, highly reliable communication networks to connect and manage grid assets. Aviat participates here, thanks to our portfolio of industry-leading solutions geared towards utilities. Our microwave radio portfolio of Aprisa SCADA radios and LTE 5G routers, combined with our network management software and our health assurance and frequency assurance offerings provides utilities a one-stop shop for its network connectivity build-out and management needs.

With the SpaceX IPO and the announcement of a potential fourth cellular network in the U.S., there is a significant amount of investor interest in low earth orbit or LEO networks. We believe that there is a valuable niche to fill in the communication space specifically around nomadic or very remote locations. Therefore, we see the technology as being complementary and not necessarily competitive with Aviat. We see the following for LEO and Aviat. One, Aviat's core business is largely unthreatened. Two, there is an idea of SpaceX building out a terrestrial network. While the architecture of that conceptual network is not fully formed, should this materialize, Aviat is well positioned if and when the architecture requires terrestrial backhaul. Three, most exciting is the new functionality that LEO brings. LEO offers redundant communications. This is most valued by private network customers, and we are seeing opportunities for Aviat through integration with microwave and cellular router solutions.

For microwave networks, satellite provides a low-cost, easy-to-deploy backup path for critical remote sites. For cellular routers and public safety and fleet applications, satellite fills LTE and 5G coverage gaps with automatic failover. In both cases, Aviat's opportunity is to deliver an integrated solution that improves resilience while simplifying deployment, management and operations for our customers. Aviat's customers are engaged in trials to demonstrate the value proposition of this redundancy. Please see Slide 11 in our investor presentation to get a picture of the ongoing trials and connectivity solution we bring.

Moving on to international. Aviat's business has seen particular traction in the EMEA region, where revenues were up 53% in the fourth quarter and up 33% for all of fiscal 2026. This growth has been driven in part by recent international private network wins, including with defense customers, including blackned as well as energy firms. As we pursue more such private network business, we see this segment as growing -- a growing portion of our international business in the future.

Moving on to supply chain. Like others in the technology hardware space, Aviat has not been immune from component shortages and cost inflation. Specifically, we are most focused on securing supply for memory, printed circuit boards or PCBs, capacitors and FPGAs. We will be opening the playbook we used during COVID supply chain crisis to secure favorable placement and allocations among our suppliers. Although Aviat has been able to manage through these current allocations and shortages with our inventory and safety stock, we have also had some headwinds to our gross margins from component cost inflation. We plan to pass along these price increases to our customers to help offset these rising costs. With that, I will now turn the call over to Andy to go through the financial results.

Andrew Schmidt

Thanks, Pete. I'll review some of the key fiscal year 2026 and fourth quarter results. Please note that our detailed financials can be found in our press release and all comparisons discussed are between fourth quarter of fiscal year '26 and fourth quarter of fiscal year '25, unless otherwise noted. For the fourth quarter, we reported total revenue of $120.9 million as compared to $115.3 million for the same period last year, an increase of 4.8%. Revenues for the 12-month period were $439.7 million versus $434.6 million the year ago 12-month period.

North America, which comprised 56.5% of our total revenues for the quarter were $68.3 million. This was up $10.3 million or 17.8% versus the year ago period. These results were complemented by a limited set of deployments for our North American-based MDU project in the quarter. International revenues, which made up 43.5% of total revenues were $52.6 million for the quarter. For fiscal 2026, North American revenues were $220 million, up 6% versus fiscal year '25. International revenues were $219.6 million in fiscal '26 compared to $227 million in fiscal '25. EMEA showed solid results for fiscal '26, while APAC stabilized. We feel our international business overall is poised for growth in fiscal '27.

Gross margins in the fourth quarter were 30.8% on a GAAP basis and 30.9% on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to 34.2% GAAP and 34.7% non-GAAP in the prior year. The year-over-year change in gross margin is typically due to volumes, regional and product mix. That said, as Pete noted earlier, our current period gross margin was negatively affected by component shortages and associated price inflation. For fiscal 2026, gross margins were 31.5% on a GAAP basis and 31.8% on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to 32.1% GAAP and 32.8% non-GAAP in fiscal '25. Fourth quarter GAAP operating expenses were $31.4 million. Non-GAAP operating expenses, which exclude the impact of restructuring charges, share-based compensation and other costs were $27.3 million.

For fiscal '26, GAAP operating expenses were $119.1 million and non-GAAP operating expenses were $109.2 million. This is versus $128.9 million GAAP and $113.5 million non-GAAP in fiscal '25, a decrease of $9.8 million and $4.3 million, respectively. This is the result of the entire management team diligently managing costs, continuously reviewing corporate needs and driving process efficiency efforts. Fourth quarter operating income was $5.8 million on a GAAP basis and $10 million on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to $8.9 million GAAP and $12.9 million non-GAAP in the year ago period. For fiscal '26, GAAP operating income was $19.2 million, up $8.7 million versus the last fiscal year. Fiscal 2026 non-GAAP operating income was $30.6 million, up $1.5 million or 5.2% versus the last fiscal year. The fourth quarter non-GAAP tax benefit was $0.5 million. As a reminder, as of fiscal 2026 year-end, the company has over $420 million of net operating losses or NOLs that will continue to generate shareholder value via minimal cash tax payments for the foreseeable future.

Fourth quarter GAAP net loss was $1.3 million and non-GAAP net income was a positive $8.3 million, which excludes restructuring charges, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, interest and other income, other nonrecurring expenses and the noncash tax provision. Fourth quarter GAAP loss per share was $0.10 on a fully diluted basis and non-GAAP earnings per share came in at a positive $0.64 on a fully diluted basis. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $11.9 million or 9.8% of revenues. For the fiscal year, adjusted EBITDA was $36.7 million.

Moving on to the balance sheet. Our cash and marketable securities at the end of the fourth quarter were $72.8 million. Our outstanding debt was $97 million, bringing the net debt position to $24.2 million. Aviat made continued improvements in its balance sheet. Unbilled receivables were lower for the third consecutive quarter. The fourth quarter balance was $3.1 million lower compared to the fiscal 2026 third quarter ending balance. This brings our total unbilled receivables balance to $82.1 million. Inventories were also lower sequentially by $3.6 million, bringing our inventory balance to $69 million.

For the full fiscal year, Aviat generated cash from operations of $13.6 million. Combined with the other balance sheet improvements, this is good progress for shareholders. Other points to make. Aviat used $2.2 million to repurchase approximately 131,000 shares in the quarter at an average price of $16.55 per share. Finally, we are pleased to share that in the context of our control environment, we have fully remediated our past 5 material weaknesses. Rest assured, Aviat's core value of continuous improvement is still in play, and we will continue to work to further strengthen our foundation. With that, I'll turn it back to Pete for some final comments.

Peter Smith

Thanks, Andy. Regarding our fiscal 2027 guidance, we are establishing our outlook as follows: full year revenues to be in the range of $455 million to $470 million; full year adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $50 million to $55 million. Note that our guidance is full fiscal year. Some additional color on seasonality. Based on our backlog and current outlook, the first quarter will be the foundation on which Aviat's revenue builds throughout fiscal 2027. Additionally, we expect the second half of the fiscal 2027 to have higher overall revenues versus the first half of fiscal 2027. See Slide 23 in the investor presentation for a view of the seasonality Aviat has typically experienced and for use in your models. With that, operator, let's open up for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question coming from the line of Scott Searle with ROTH Capital.

分析师问答

Scott Searle

Nice job on the quarter. Also nice to see the balance sheet improvements and the cleanup of the material weaknesses. Maybe just to dive in, I wonder if you could give us an idea of the breakdown in North America between carrier contribution and private networks? And then specifically, looking into the September quarter and how we ramp up from an MDU contribution standpoint. Pete, how is that shaping up just in terms of the context of how we should think about the flow of that into the course of fiscal '27?

Peter Smith

So we ended the year with record backlog, up 14%. A lot of that was worked throughout the year that landed in the May, June time frame. There's this pervasive component availability. So when we said in the script that the Q1 is going to be a foundation, we think given the timing of our wins and given the supply chain ramp-up, we think if you put a revenue profile together, Q1 will be the lowest. Q2 and Q4 will be peaks and Q3 should be higher than Q1. And then with respect to the overall, I have -- I don't have the U.S. breakdown in front of me, but we're about 45% private networks, 55% service providers or mobile network operators. And I think that -- I'll give a qualitative statement. I would say the U.S. has more private networks than the overall Aviat. So I think that gives you a vector on that, Scott.

Scott Searle

Okay. Pete, just to clarify, though, on the MDU front, do you expect contribution in the September quarter? Or is there a lot of predeployment activity ongoing, more engineering and otherwise, and we should expect to ramp up into the second half of the year or second quarter?

Peter Smith

Yes. So we think the ramp-up is going to occur in the second quarter. There is a chance that we get some in the September quarter. And let me just give a little more color on this. We completed more proof of concepts in a variety of markets. And we believe that the customer has moved us ahead in the supplier pecking order where we think we're established as the preferred vendor. So what we really need to do is get that site readiness over the hump in the September quarter, get all of our components on order and enjoy the win in the December quarter.

Scott Searle

Great. And 2 other quick ones, if I could. Just on the satellite LEO opportunity. I'm wondering if you're actually starting to see interesting contribution today. It seems like there's a lot of activity, but I'm wondering what you're factoring into that fiscal '27 guidance at this point in time. And then second, gross margins, some component headwinds on that front. I'm wondering how you're thinking about that in terms of fiscal '27, broadly speaking. Is there some expansion in gross margin opportunities given some incremental scale and product mix? Or are you still seeing some headwinds on the component front?

Andrew Schmidt

Sure, Scott. This is Andy. Great to hear from you. In terms of gross margins, as Pete commented on revenue, Q1 is going to be our building block and we go up from there. So we -- it is, let's call it, the foundation or lowest part of the year, it's going to be affected by lower volume, of course. Pete did talk to in his prepared remarks, strategies that we're deploying to offset the component inflation, if you will. Those are going to be more realized in Q2 and going forward, not in Q1. But again, we do have plans and we expect Q2, 3 and 4 to have more upward pressure on gross margin.

Peter Smith

And there's no LEO in the guide.

Operator

Our next question in queue coming from the line of Christian Schwab with Craig-Hallum.

Christian Schwab

Congrats on the solid quarter. I'm wondering if you could give us an update on your large European competitor who is exiting their microwave business, we believe, by the end of this calendar year. Are you seeing any business benefit from that currently? And would you anticipate or see an increased dialogue that you think will benefit you in your next fiscal year?

Peter Smith

A competitor of our European competitor has communicated that their pipeline of opportunities is improving. And I would suggest that the same thing is transpiring with us. To convert a microwave network, it's a 6- to 18-month proposition. And the good news for us was the announcement was made November of 2025. And immediately after that, I think Aviat and all of our non-for-sale competitors created a pipeline and are pursuing that. And I would say we've had kind of normal course of business wins. And I would say that our competitors have probably had that as well where networks get exchanged at a low level. I think the possibility for this to improve is probably in the March and June quarters for Aviat as well as the the competitors that have been working over the -- what will be a period of 1 year, 1.5 years to convert the uncertainty to wins.

Christian Schwab

And then as it relates to BEAD, is there -- there's been a lot of fluctuations of people tied to that. And just wondering what's your current thoughts. I think before, we thought maybe some things would start in fiscal year '27, but really had more of a multiyear outlook. I'm just wondering if there's any update on your current thoughts there.

Peter Smith

Yes. In front of me, we've got quotes out to our customers. We're working to turn those quotes into business. So it's becoming tactical rather than theoretical. And I would also say that we still believe it to be a 3-year impact. And we -- our estimate is in the December quarter, it should have the first real impact to our revenue.

Christian Schwab

Okay. Fantastic. And then lastly, regarding your belief that you're the preferred vendor and showing proof of concepts of different applications on the MDU ramp. I appreciate the $25 million to $30 million significant order in hand. Should we anticipate that there could be more significant orders as we go through fiscal year '27? Or is that yet too early?

Peter Smith

I don't want you to anticipate, but there could be. How about that? Trying to split the middle there. But it's a fair question, and we're hopeful. Let's not put it in the model, but that's what we're working towards.

Operator

Our next question in queue coming from the line of Jaeson Schmidt with Lake Street.

Jaeson Schmidt

Just following up on Christian's last question on the MDU opportunity and potential for more orders. Can you help us size the potential follow-on orders? Or how are you looking at this opportunity sort of in the intermediate term here?

Peter Smith

Yes. So I think what's really critical to driving the size of the opportunity is subscriber growth, and we're in the early innings of the subscriber growth. And the more subscribers that come online for this Tier 1, the bigger the opportunity. I mean for the last time we talked, we sized this as an 8-figure opportunity, and we put that in our 8-K during our quiet period, we would say that, just that we think it's going to get bigger.

So then the next question is, does it cross the barrier for 9 figures? I don't know -- I think the total annual opportunity is in the $100 million neighborhood, how the -- and that's predicated on, one, the customer achieving their subscriber growth metrics. And two, our share versus the competitive share. So if you want to look at this as what could it be, what could it all be? I would say we hit the $100 million figure. The precursors to that are -- the market opportunity hits the $100 million level. How that parses out between Aviat and the competition, it's looking more favorable, but I don't see any situation where we'd be sole sourced. And then what's probably more important is how many subscribers come on to those MDU units.

Jaeson Schmidt

Okay. That's really helpful. And then just as a follow-up, can you update us on the Aprisa router funnel and what you're seeing and expectations for fiscal '27?

Peter Smith

So we're not going to break out guidance specifically for Aprisa. The Aprisa business on the utility front, which is why we bought in, continue to enjoy it, is performing well. We've talked in the past about the LTE router and basically putting this router into public safety or police cars. What I can say is that we have initial orders in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. It's still relatively small, and there's a long lead site -- a long kind of runway to get government agencies into the purchasing funnel. But I would also say that our performance in the mobile cellular router sector is we're going up against Cradlepoint. And the reason we have those initial orders and significant engagements is because we have a compelling value proposition that customers like, and it's just going to take time, but we believe that it will happen.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is coming from the line of Dave Kang with B. Riley.

Dave Kang

First question is, just wondering how much -- regarding that Middle East projects that were delayed last quarter, how much of that was captured in the fourth quarter?

Peter Smith

I think most of it, Dave, most of it was recaptured.

Dave Kang

Got it. And did that mix also played into that gross margin? I know you talked about supply chain headwind, but also the mix.

Andrew Schmidt

Primarily the component inflation has affected this quarter. Mix is pretty much representative. As I said in the prepared remarks, Americas were about 56.5%, which is fairly typical.

Peter Smith

Just to add to that, Dave, right? So the nature of the inflation in the component environment is sometimes there's spot market, sometimes it's prices go up even after you make the order. And in the next few weeks, we're going to go out to our customers for more price. So unfortunately, the nature of the inflation is it's a little more abrupt than typical. So we got impacted by that abruptness, and we're going to work to offset those -- that inflation. I think we should get some improvement in the December quarter and then the back half, it should be better still.

Dave Kang

So by second half, can we expect like mid-30s in terms of gross margin expectations?

Andrew Schmidt

That would be aspirational. A lot of the growth, again, is coming out of MDU as we've talked through in these other markets, and that has pretty much what we call more of a middle of our product strategy profile. So again, we ended the year at about 32%. That's a safe harbor in terms of how we operate, just looking at historical. Again, as we -- as Pete talked to these different strategies, we expect some upward pressure. So that's good. But I wouldn't necessarily go as high as what you're suggesting as we speak today.

Dave Kang

Got it. And my last question is regarding your fiscal '27 revenue outlook. Just wondering if any BEAD factored into that outlook?

Peter Smith

A small amount, relatively conservative. So BEAD kicks in, we will revisit the guidance.

Operator

Our next question coming from the line of Theodore O'Neill with Litchfield Hills Research.

Theodore O'Neill

Congratulations on the good quarter. I want to also follow up on the MDU opportunity. Can you tell us -- I'm sure you can't mention them by name, but can you tell us about the type of customers that are driving the MDU opportunity?

Peter Smith

Well, we've disclosed in a lot of industry folks -- we've disclosed that it's a U.S. Tier 1 that has access to 39 gigahertz spectrum. So that narrows it down and the field installers have leaked this, but it's not for us to disclose. So -- and their customers' customers are apartment dwellers that typically, the profile is they skew younger, lots of remote work from home that require bandwidth beyond what's economically delivered today.

Theodore O'Neill

Okay. And Pete, last quarter, you talked about war-induced pushouts of about $9 million. And you already said that part of that had come into Q4. Did that all make in? Or are you still experiencing some kind of war-induced issues out there?

Peter Smith

Actually, so the customer was not overdue. So -- but that was in the Middle East, war-induced issue. And we would say that there's steady state that, that problem has reversed. And I would say our demand in that customer base and our supply is at steady state.

Theodore O'Neill

Okay. And finally, on the range of revenue guidance, there's a range of $15 million. Can you talk about what -- sort of what would make it at the high end or the low end of that sort of the give and take in that?

Peter Smith

Yes. I'd like to talk about how to make it -- to get to the higher end, more MDU and how does that, one, is more subscriber growth; two, share gain versus the competition. Two is our de minimis modeling of BEAD. So if BEAD kicks in the way we've wished it would have kicked in over the last 5 years, then we will revisit guidance. And then three would be private networks.

And Christian asked a question about the competitive dynamics in private networks. We think we're well positioned if some of those convert or if private networks, the Aprisa LTE router opportunity is in there. If either of those 2 things happen, that will pop up our private network. And then lastly, we see some -- given the competitive dynamics globally, we have more Tier 1 interest than normal new Tier 1. So that would be the fourth potential lever to move us from, let's say, the midpoint to the high end. So we have 4 possibilities.

Operator

Our next question coming from the line of Rustam Kanga with Citizens Bank.

Rustam Kanga

Andy and Pete, nice close to the year. Regarding the historical revenue pattern at 48% to 52% for the back half of the year for your guidance for next year. Are you looking at something like more towards the range of 40%, 60%? Or could it be more pronounced than that?

Andrew Fredrickson

Russ, this is Andrew Fredrickson. Yes. So we mentioned that the second half of the year would be a little bit more back half weighted. I would think you could think about it incrementally more than maybe where it's been historically. So maybe it's something closer to 45%, 55% but we'll certainly continue to keep you updated as we advance through the year. But if you look at the investor Slide #23 in our investor presentation, we have historical numbers over the last couple of fiscal years. I would say at a minimum, that's a good kind of guidance level from a seasonality perspective. But again, maybe you have a couple more percentage points in the back half.

Peter Smith

Yes. Slide 23 is the model that we're signing up to.

Rustam Kanga

Sounds good. And then regarding the MDU opportunity, I understand that it's hinging on the subscriber growth there. Just curious if the number of markets that you're operating there has grown or sustained from what you've talked about in the previous quarter.

Peter Smith

Yes. I think we're slated or are in 25 markets. And if we roll back the clock, we were 1, 7, 11 to 13. So now I think we're approaching the 25 market level.

Operator

And I'm showing no further questions in the Q&A queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Pete Smith with any closing remarks.

Peter Smith

It's an exciting time for Aviat. Thanks, everyone, for joining. We look forward to again updating you in November. Thanks.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.